Sweet Tea Trio thrilled to open for Bon Jovi

The Alabama-based all-woman country group won a contest to become opener for Thursday night's show by the New Jersey-based rockers, at Birmingham's BJCC Arena. At capacity, the arena holds 19,000.

“You really can’t put it into words,” said Kate Falcon, a Gadsden native who grew up listening to Bon Jovi in her dad’s car. “We’re literally living on a prayer.”

Sweet Tea Trio was chosen via video-based competition. Bon Jovi is holding similar contests for local groups on each stop of its This House Is Not for Sale tour.

“Bon Jovi is just huge,” said Tuscaloosan Victoria Camp. The third member is Savannah Coker of Chelsea. “There’s no other way to describe what they are other than legendary.”

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Five years ago, the three then-middle-school-aged girls were thinking of solo careers at Nashville Bound, a Birmingham-based music school. Founder Steve Pennington saw potential in joining the three singers, in harmony. The trio's first performance was “Hell on Heels” by Pistol Annies.

Since then they’ve performed a mix of covers such as “Pontoon” and “Girl Crush,” and original songs such as “Forever Ain’t Long Enough” and “Huntin’ is Good” around the South, at venues including WorkPlay in Birmingham, the Main Street Music Festival in Albertville, and in Tuscaloosa at Government Plaza, Band of Brothers and elsewhere. They were picked to sing the national anthem at Talladega Superspeedway

“To me what country centers around is Southern hospitality and Southern things,” Camp said. “Country speaks a lot about what goes on in the South. I want to choose (country) as a career path because it speaks everything about how I was raised.”

When Camp first heard Sweet Tea Trio suggested as a name, she was not a fan.

“I said ‘Heck no, not in a million years, that’s the worst name I’ve ever heard of,’ ” Camp said. “But we sat down and all three of us agreed and said ‘All right we’re going for it.’ Everybody went nuts for it.”

The girls often write together, taking inspiration from their lives.

“You can write a song that appeals to everyone, but also directly from your heart,” said Camp, who also plays guitar. “To me, how I write a song is I usually have a melody in my head and I get with the other two girls and we talk about the lyrics.”

Having performed since childhood, the three draw on numerous influences. The Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride, Shania Twain and Little Big Town have shone a light on their musical pathway.

“As a trio we definitely love artists that give good vibes,” Falcon said. “We want to appeal not only to younger people, but older people. We want to be the family band.”

The all-ages approach includes remembering the kids they were not so long ago.